1. “This isn’t just a case of taking someone to the hospital”: Police approaches and management of situations involving persons with mental ill health
Samantha Weston and Diane Malkin
Keele University & Staffordshire Police

2. Background
“frontline workers often come into contact with persons with mental illnesses and must respond to their needs with whatever tools lie at hand” (Wood, et al. 2011:6 emphasis added).
Background and aims:
Despite being identified as a key aspect of police work (Gotfredson, et al. 2011) mental health is an area that has been neglected in police training. As reflected in the Adebowale review (2013), the police struggle to respond appropriately on an individual level to those with acute mental disorder and often find it difficult to access support from mental health services. Similarly, in the US, Wood et al (2011:6) show that the police have become “frontline workers who often come into contact with persons with mental illnesses and must respond to their needs with whatever tools lie at hand” (emphasis added).
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 2007 has become a fundamental tool for police officers when managing situations involving persons with mental ill health (Turner, et al. 1992). Yet nationally, questions have been raised about the extent to which police officers should be called upon as ‘the service of first resort’ (HMIC, 2017:8). Similar concerns have also been raised at a local level. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner covering Staffordshire commissioned a review to identify the frontline impact of mental health issues and found that demand on the police to support people with mental health needs living independently was increasing (2013).
Against this backdrop have been significant cuts to mental health provision and other services that may have otherwise addressed the issues presented by people with mental ill health. This context means that police officers need some core skills to carry out their role and to ensure that vulnerable people receive appropriate care.
The project reported here aimed to involve officers, and other related personnel, directly in devising training and knowledge related to mental health, as an alternative to imposing externally generated innovation.

3. Action research cycle Constructing Evaluating action Planning action
Taking action
An action research cycle is a rigorous approach to improving our practice and becoming more effective.
Through the use of three Knowledge Exchange Groups (KEGs) and 12 one to one interviews, we were able to engage staff at all levels to identify the issues and challenges faced by both police officers and other related personnel, and the possible solutions that are rooted in their day to day experiences. Using the principles of Work-Based and Action Learning (see figure 1), the KEGs were designed to encourage operational staff to share experience and operation knowledge in order to ‘frame’ operational challenges and think about potential solutions. The one to one interviews, on the other hand, were designed to explore how the issues identified were currently negotiated.
A number of issues were raised throughout this process but I’d like to focus this presentation today on one particular issue: frustrations felt by police officers regarding the increasing expectation to respond to people with low severity mental health, i.e. those people who may not be in crisis but might be regarded as vulnerable in the absence of appropriate support services and networks.
The one to one interviews provided an opportunity to explore the issues raised during the KEGs in more depth, which raised a number of wider issues effecting police work and potentially creating the challenges identified by police officers.

4. Austerity and displacement of community mental health
“I would say there are issues. Resources without any question... when you think how many acute inpatient beds we used to have and how many we have got now... so we have got more people being supported within the community... people don't disappear, what we do is move it into somewhere else and I think that's what we are seeing. I’m sure the police will that they what they deal with now is more health and social welfare than crime” (Mental health commissioner)
“Because the public sector is being tightened, where someone might fit the criteria for more [mental health] support a year or two years ago they don’t fit that criteria now so they are not getting the support they need, and if they’ve not got family around them then that person can become quite isolated”. (Police officer)
“I think it depends on the time of day or night or what day it is in terms of what happens. I don't think the pathways are very clear for relatives who are trying to get people help so people normally access our services at a point of crisis, and that would be A&E or being picked up by the police” (Mental health practitioner)
Many of those interviewed expressed humanitarian concerns for the people who were requesting help and support and although resources were not always referred to, the narratives of officers relentlessly move to the inevitably conclusion that services are suffering from dire under-funding [quote 1]
It is within this climate that those in need of support are displaced from community mental health care to emergency services [Quote 2/3]

5. Role of the police as mental health interventionists
‘This isn’t just a case of taking someone to the hospital’ (Police officer)
Assessing risk and making decisions
Safeguarding and welfare
Against this backdrop police officers are increasingly expected to respond to the increasing demand caused by a shortage in mental health provision. The police officers interviewed reported how their role and responsibilities with regards to the management of situations involving people with mental ill health was much more than simply “taking someone to the hospital” (Police officer). Police officers expressed concerns about the increasing need to assess risk and make decisions based upon this assessment, despite not having the appropriate skills to make this type of assessment:
“You try and interact with the subject don't you?  name a lead you, ' oh I'm under the care of so and so at the moment or I have...' ' talk us through why you're feeling like this.  It might be that they’ve been on the phone to us saying that they need some help or they might have been on to crisis or the community mental health team, saying I'm struggling at the moment,   I'm going to take a an overdose.  We then get a phone call and we turn up.  So we've got a little bit of background and they're quite happy to open the door to us and we’re thinking have you taken anything?  Do I need to think about an ambulance?  If I can get you an ambulance then maybe I can get you referred up there? That's one avenue but if they are like no, no I haven't taken anything then you've got a situation in the property,  which way do you go on that?  and sometimes it can take hours...” (Police officer)
Police officers also talked about their role in safeguarding and welfare, particularly with regards to those people experiencing low severity mental health. In an effort to reduce the number of calls being processed in the control room one officer described how he had made regular arrangements to visit people who might be described as ‘frequent callers’:
“The control room, if they are able to might have a little chat with them on the phone and that's it they will go on their way again. I have got a couple on myself I go and try to see them a couple of times a week”. (Police officer)
This police officer also described various examples of the type of support he has provided to people requiring mental health support, ranging from help with accommodation, utility bills, and cleaning:
““there is this particular person who comes in, has been one of our highest callers, some of the agencies that were dealing with him did let him down getting rehoused and we have had to step in a little bit. Some of our PCSOs have gone in and helped him clean his flat, they have helped him with some bills they have done things like that. He now knows that if he rings the police someone will go and speak to him and tell him what he needs to do. When it comes through the control room now it’s flagged that he has got mental health issues and it is myself that goes to see him and then I update the incident of the last incident to notify when I am going to see him next, so if he calls they will say " OK Gary but Bill is coming out to see you next Tuesday so you can wait till then"... and that has actually reduced his calls quite dramatically, just by doing that and I've done him a flowchart as well“ (Police)

6. Skilled helper project